


Gold Watch

by Accidentallytechohazardous



Category: Bleach
Genre: Grinding, M/M, Mind Games, Nightclub AU, Nonbinary Character, Power Play, Public Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:16:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5230058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Accidentallytechohazardous/pseuds/Accidentallytechohazardous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The way they drank and smoked and danced and rolled their bodies against each other, you could almost imagine the two of them were genuine and wholesome people. The air smells like smoke and sweat, and the drinks taste like money.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gold Watch

The strobe lights rolled over the dance floor and crawled up the walls like hungry eyes or shooting stars. Pillars of white that glanced off the cool, black background. The walls are high and the concave of the roof is so deep that if you looked up into the chasm of the ceiling one could believe there was nothing above but void and darkness. This was an odd trick on part of the building’s original designers, one that worked out in the club’s favor- people tend to get a little hysterical when on edge. That almost made up for the fact that it was creepy as all get-out. **  
**

The sound of glass sliding against the wood panelling was in tune with Renji’s ass sliding over and onto a barstool, broad shoulders making space against the crowd. Zher hand slapped the bar with casual, gleeful power, the way a colliding meteor slaps the earth’s crust. “Barkeep!”

The scathingly empty glare from Izuru was almost worth it, too. His pallid skin was practically glowing ghost-like, the dark space behind the bar illuminated with unearthly blues and pinks. The shot glasses and bottles on the walls behind him reflect like exploding stars, while his pipe-cleaner hands move to empty a redbull and a shot of vodka into a glass.

“You know, when your name isn’t on the weekly schedule it means you don’t work on that night.” He says dryly before pushing the shot glass in Renji’s direction.

“Yeah, but I just can’t stay away.” A wide and wolfish grin yanks the corner of Renji’s lips, palm swallowing the glass in zher massive grip. “Not like it costs me nothin’ to get in.” Not according to Renji’s name on the contract, it doesn’t.

It hadn’t been as easy as one might think, convincing Renji to sign on to such a risky business affair. How Rangiku had talked Izuru of all people into it in the first place was- well, maybe it wasn’t such a surprise. Rangiku was always very convincing, and usually very right. Neither Renji nor Izuru saw ‘young and successful entrepreneurs’ in their future before, but with a little Matsumoto Magic, they somehow got their feet off of the ground. Lovingly, their little sapling of a club was nurtured into a strong, mighty, thriving den of salacious sin.

Renji’s eyes rolled over the crowd on the floor level, at the tangle of human bodies writhing against each other in tempo to the pounding bass from the speakers. Eden Island always drew in a big crowd on the weekends, but it seemed especially packed on this night. The stench of sweat muddled with the reek of alcohol to create a single concoction that just screamed ‘pheromones.’

It was exactly Renji’s kind of place for a night off, work or no work. Yet the hectic atmosphere was foreboding.

“Who’s workin’ security tonight?” Zhe asked, emptying the shot glass and making a show of not wincing at the burn like sparks going down zher throat.

“I’m sure Madarame and Ayasegawa have everything under control.” Izuru’s voice is cutting, the corner of his thin lips quirking in a dry expression that’s almost a smirk. “And I don’t think they’d want to hear you criticizing them just because you feel like being fussy tonight.”

“Not fussy, jus’ professional. I’ll thank you to know.” The empty glass was turned over, making a hollow sound against the bartop and Renji glanced down to zher watch. It wasn’t easy to read, the warm gold just barely caught the lights swinging by overhead. The fine lines of the clock hands and the elegant roman numerals depicted, if Renji squinted enough at zher wrist, that it was just a quarter after midnight.

Only after Renji looked back up did zhe catch Izuru’s cool stare, a curious quirk of a single thin eyebrow. “What?”

“That’s new, isn’t it?” The blue eye hovered on the wristwatch, the clean and unblemished gold shining like new money. There was something thick in his voice, like humor without joy. “A gift?”

Renji resisted the urge to pull zher sleeve over zher wrist, instead raising the hand to turn over the shot glass and brazenly display the expensive watch to the alien glow of the bar lights. Zher grin showed Izuru a wall of teeth. “What makes ya’ think that?”

“It doesn’t look like something you’d buy for yourself.”

By which, of course, Izuru meant it’s not zher style at all. Not clunky and made of metal or durable plastic, unable to withstand being dropped or smashed a few times the way that most things that Renji owns need to be.

The gold bands hung from zher wrist with a weak grip, with notches too small to fiddle with and numbers too small to see, it looked almost delicate. Dainty. Fragile and breakable. The glow of the gold looked genuine and terribly expensive, too, it was probably more than just paint. A shiny bauble to be flaunted.

“It looks like something you’d get from an admirer.” Izuru pointed out with a sideways look, taking Renji’s glass back and refilling it without breaking eye contact.

“Yeah, maybe.” Renji punctuated the sentence with the second shot, swallowing without tasting. “We close late tonight, don’t we?”

“You,” Izuru pointed out, “Don’t close tonight at all, because you’re not working. But yeah, I’m going to close up tonight at six. Assuming that there won’t be any fights or anything disturbing.”

Both looked back out at crowd, all sweat and motion and sound. As one collective, the dancing mass pulsed like a hungry animal, the blood pumping in an enormous super-predator. It was unnerving, but natural. And it wasn’t hurting anybody.

“Perfect.”

Renji fished out some bills for Izuru’s tip, tossing them on to the bar even as Izuru made the disapproving hum that he does when he thinks that Renji is patronizing him. “I’m gonna catch some fresh air. Good luck tonight, buddy.”

-

Renji and any of zher business partners will have you know, they run a clean establishment. Certified, run by the books with good reviews and everything. It’s not just any place people go to get trashed, nor is it exclusive enough to be where sweaty businessmen and accountants go to have their affairs.

Even the alley by the back entrance is pretty clean, a secret side door close to the stairs that go up to the VIP lounge for customers who are very picky and very wealthy. Renji shuffled around Isane on security with another reassuring flash of teeth before slipping out the door and getting a blast of cold, crisp air in the face.

Zher shoes came to scuff over the cement landing that drops into the alley. There’s no light out here except leaking in from the street and a scarlet glow coming from the 2nd floor VIP lounge’s windows. Compared to the music blasting inside, it’s even quiet. Renji got to take a moment to let zher eardrums adjust to the lack of pounding noise.

Renji’s hand slid down to feel over zher pockets, finding familiar shapes- keys, wallet. Phone, which zhe almost took out. The automatic instinct to check for a new message pops up and was promptly stomped underfoot.

In the other pocket, Renji located zher box of cigarettes and zher lighter. Much better. It felt right to stand at the backdoor to a nightclub and smoke, like being a movie star. Some badass who needed space from all the rampant excitement in their life. Though Renji supposed that in a way, that’s life right now. Even if zhe had to make zher own excitement from time to time.

At once, and without warning, five points of light pressure appeared on Renji’s back. Not sharp and not forceful, but sudden. Zher spine straightened, a snarl born from instinct ripped Renji’s lips over zher teeth and the cigarette flew from zher lips and straight into a puddle on the pavement, dying with a weak sizzle.

“Goddamit!” Renji hissed, crushing the already damp cigarette under zher toe before fishing a second out of the box and turning to give Shuuhei a cutting glare. “Was that, perhaps, fucking necessary?”

“Sorry.” Though his voice indicated that Shuuhei is anything but. In his big, black coat and gray scarf tucked around his throat, he looked like he could have been here for hours. He looked like he could have just slipped out of the dark pavement itself. “You looked distracted.”

“Sure.” Renji scoffed, lighting the second cigarette with hands cupping the end against the cold and the breeze. Zhe inhaled, feeling smoke roll down zher throat and curl back up the sinuses to be exhaled through zher nose. A third cigarette was caught between Renji’s middle and index finger before being offered to Shuuhei. “Want one?”

Shuuhei looked down at the offered smoke distractedly, maybe even a little absently, with one steel slate eye narrow and the other on his scarred side a little more out of focus. When he smiles, his face looks lopsided.

He takes the time to peel off his gloves, holding them up to his chest and pulling them off one finger at a time before stuffing them in his pocket and taking the offered cigarette and putting it to his lip. He lets Renji light it for him, watching with dark eyes and heavy lids as Renji moves zher hands and the open flame in front of his face, not at all concerned with the option of Renji accidentally burning him. Shuuhei looks more relaxed than Renji usually sees him, though zhe supposes that he saves up all this calm energy for nights out when he can relieve stress. If anything, he looks a little impatient as well, by the tightness of his fists balled in his coat pocket. By the straight line of his shoulders.

For a moment, they’re just like that. Letting streams of smoke crawl around the alley and sink into their clothes and hair. Shuuhei held his cigarette between his index finger and his thumb, rolling it between the pads of his fingers while he breathes a ring of smoke in a halo around his face before breaking apart into the thin air. “Are you gonna invite me in?”

Renji opened the door as an answer, pressing zher spine flat against the doorframe to let Shuuhei through. It shuts behind them, and they are immersed in the humid heat and palpitations of Eden. “C’mon. I wanna show you something.”

-

The VIP lounge goes up a narrow staircase, to a balcony level that overshadows the floor. It’s far emptier up here than below even on busy nights, empty plush chairs and clear glass tables await invitingly. Low-set and relaxed for patrons to rest their feet between songs. But the biggest difference is the warm, purple-red light overhead. It glances off of the reflective floor and tables like a red carpet.

It also made the dark rings around Shuuhei’s eyes look hellish. Renji was sure it did wonders for zher complexion as well.

Renji wasn’t sure if it’s the illusion of lighting or just the heat of the building that made it seem so hot, but zhe’s not surprised when Shuuhei unraveled his scarf. Balancing his cigarette on his lip, he peeled off his coat to hang over the back of the seat. Without all those layers, the hard, wiry lines of Shuuhei’s body became apparent underneath his button-up shirt.

Deftly, Shuuhei snapped the first button open on his shirt as well and the fabric rolled back over smooth collarbone and the vulnerable stretch of skin that was Shuuhei’s neck- something Renji hadn’t noticed that zhe was staring at until zhe realized Shuuhei had stopped moving and was pointedly looking at Renji zherself

His brow quirked and it seemed that, despite the slight difference in height between them, Shuuhei had a perpetual gift for being able to look down through his bangs in a way that oozed untouchable haughtiness. An image flashed into Renji’s mind, proposing what what pretty neck would look like if it wasn’t so smooth and unmarked anymore, before fading into an afterburn.

“You like the watch?” Shuuhei asked.

Before answering, Renji turned to motion at the waitress, using zher best ‘boss’ face to indicate what zhe wanted. It was a broad and dismissive gesture, and maybe considering the fact that Renji tried to get to know the staff as well as zhe could it was more distant than usual. But that was fine. Zhe wondered if Shuuhei noticed.

“It’s nice.” Renji admitted, after turning back to face zher guest. Once again zhe appraised the yellow gold, the elegant design. Zhe appraised the best way to appraise it without using those words. Zhe flexed zher wrist and let the gold turn to a topaz orange in the red light, allowing Shuuhei to admire his own mark. “But if you keep spoilin’ me, I’m gonna have to return the favor.”

Whatever Shuuhei’s response to that was, he paused it in favor of leaning back for the arrival of the waitress and letting her lean over the table. And though Renji usually didn’t at all mind staff acting flirty with the customers (it was good for business, of course) zhe was quick to notice the girl giving her attention to Shuuhei as she bent over, placing their two glasses on the table. As Shuuhei’s eye rolled down her body and over the low cut of her shirt, Renji commanded the tension in zher jaw to release and zher brow to unfurrow.

“Thank you.” Renji dismissed the waitress with a side-glance before she had the opportunity to ask if they needed anything else and give Shuuhei the chance to answer. Zher fingers worked with purposeful gentleness to hold the stem of the glass, bringing the bubbling champagne up to the night and watching the foam gnaw a the lip of it’s container. “Make sure it’s all on me, please.”

“Fancy-shmancy. Is this what you meant by ‘returning the favor?’” There it was, Shuuhei’s lopsided smile. To accompany the condescending prickle in his voice. “If so, I could get used to it.”

He held out his champagne glass, and Renji tapped it with zher own. It produced a satisfying ‘clang’ and felt, in a way, like a parody. They each took a gratuitous sip. It tasted, to Renji, like money.

“Really, though. How am I s’posed to feel about you wasting your money on expensive presents for lil’ old me?” The wolfish grin was as easy to slip into as falling asleep, smiling at Shuuhei through tight eyes as Renji twisted the glass’s stem between zher fingers. “You’re awfully generous.”

“Not at all.” Shuuhei’s voice matched Renji’s in tension. His eyes looked almost sleepy, as if Renji couldn’t see intelligent glimmer in the left. Never dulling. Never fading. Always watching zher. “I like seeing you get some use out of them. I thought that one suited you is all.”

Izuru’s observation pops back into Renji’s mind. Zhe takes care not to scuff the watch against the edge of the table when zhe puts zher glass down. “You got interesting taste.”

They smoked and they drank up there like that, Renji and Shuuhei. They saturated in the kind of luxuries one only finds time for in the weekend, with unhealthy stimulants and decadent surroundings and an attractive counterpart that is nothing but attentive.

They watched the dancing, and if that sounds creepy Renji would point out there can be something very hypnotic about watching other people dance and move their body in rhythm to the music. An uncountable number of people moving as one and yet no two are the same. Zher knee bounced underneath the table keeping up with the tempo while ash fell off of zher cigarette butt. Shuuhei rubbed the stem of his drink. He was getting more impatient. Who could wait the longest?

Shuuhei moved first, standing up with grunt that doesn’t suit his age, but he stood up and stretched his back with an arch and everything smooth and spry returned to him. Looking down over the balcony at the crowd, he momentarily looked powerful. Huge and far away.

Then he turned to Renji again, and broke the spell. He smiled that lopsided smile, this time showing his teeth. “You invited me to a nightclub and haven’t even asked me to dance yet.”

Renji took another sip of his drink, covering zher irritation. What was this, spring formal? “Wanna dance with me?”

“Good.” Shuuhei’s praise oozed honey and arsenic, like praising a pet. He held out his hand in an obvious invitation. “Show me around?”

Renji, who is an adult and hasn’t held anybody’s hand since zhe was about seven years old, was tempted to pass Shuuhei over now more than ever. This was getting too weird. Too… bordering on something unfamiliar.

Renji slipped zher hand into Shuuhei’s and guided him back towards the stairs. Shuuhei’s palm was soft on the inside, but zhe could feel the work callouses on his fingers on the outside of zher hand, and the edge of short nails biting into zher skin.

Coming down the narrow staircase, Renji dragged Shuuhei around Isane and weaved past a few people trying to squeeze by them, not once did Shuuhei let Renji break zher grasp. Back on the floor level zhe noticed it was still pretty packed, but not quite as much as earlier. Those who were not truly accustomed to staying out late called for cabs, left their friends who weren’t done with the night.

The strobe lights had dimmed from bright white to silvery gray. But the music was only louder, faster, with less coherency and more emotion. Renji could admit; zhe wanted to dance now, too.

“You make a better door than a window, Abarai.”

Renji felt zher heart pound against zher chest- zhe hadn’t even noticed that had somebody walk in front of zhim, just under eye-level. Zhe hadn’t seen, until the last minute, a shock of pale blond hair like flaxen gold and light skin that looked blue in the dimness. Izuru with his shoulder bag ready to go home for the night.

“I thought you were closing up.”

“Me, too. But I have a headache, so Rangiku is abusing her power and making me go home.” Izuru rubbed his red eye with a bony knuckle, until the opal bluel blinked into focus and came back to Renji. Then to the dark and looming figure that saddled up next to Renji. Then finally at their linked hands.

Shuuhei’s arrogant smirk could be palatable even with Renji not looking in zher direction. No doubt, he could feel Renji’s palm beginning to acquire sweat.

Izuru’s lips twisted into some unreadable expression, whether it was amusement at Renji’s discomfort, second-hand embarrassment, exasperation or, perhaps, curiosity as his eyes scanned Shuuhei up and down. Whatever it was, it wasn’t totally comfortable. “Would this be your- ah, friend that we were talking about earlier?”

“You talked about me?” Shuuhei jumped in before Renji could open zher mouth to respond. His grasp was still locked in a deathgrip around Renji’s intertwined fingers.

“See you tomorrow, Kira.” Heat rushed through every pore of Renji’s body, steaming and boiling. And before anyone had the opportunity to escalate the scene any further, zhe yanked Shuuhei towards the perimeter of the dance floor and did not look back.

It didn’t take long for Shuuhei to regain his composure, catching up to walk at Renji’s shoulder. “He’s pretty good-looking.”

“I thought you wanted to dance.”

And then they plunge into the hot fog of human bodies.

The lights cut on and off, slashing the floor into ribbons of blinding light and smothering dark. It’s was easier this way for Renji to bridge the awkward gap between standing in the middle of the floor and actually dancing with the rest of the crowd. Shuuhei looked like he appreciated the opportunity as well- Shuuhei, who doesn’t really dance but could melt into the scene well enough as much as he wanted, his head rocking from side to side with his single gray scanning the human walls around him like a cat watching mice skitter around underfoot.

The proximity around them closed in, the occasional elbow knocking into Renji’s back and pushing zhim to the furious tempo. Zhe’s not sure if it’s zher own foot or Shuuhei’s that moved forward first, only that zhe could trace the ridges of his scars under the flash of the strobe light, close enough to see the cracks in his skin and the beads of sweat that began to roll down his forehead as the heat inevitably slipped under his skin.

The smell of Shuuhei’s aftershave is inhaled and rolled around deep in Renji’s throat, along with the stench of smoke and nicotine. When they’re pushed up nearly chest-to-chest, zhe noticed Shuuhei’s glances had transitioned from his surroundings to Renji. Zhe felt it wash over like a sudden chill, or a heat-flash. With zher arms hanging around Shuuhei’s shoulders and his hands on Renji’s hips, someone from the outside could almost believe that they were a normal couple trying to enjoy the music and the hormones sloshing around the inside of the club from one wall to the other.

Zher breath was hot leaving zher throat, Renji watched it blow away a few hairs from Shuuhei’s face. It was a relief to see Shuuhei’s expression shift and ebb from relaxed and at ease to stony and focused, brows tightened and lips opened just barely. That was the Shuuhei that Renji knew. Zhe could see the white glimpse of Shuuhei’s teeth as he breathed heavily, and felt it as Shuuhei’s chest expanded and contracted against zher own.

The lightning-quick pace and riffs melted into heavier, bassier tones. The movements of the crowd slowing down as if submerged in water, pushing against an unseen and immeasurable pressure. Renji’s body rolled against Shuuhei’s, who pushed back with as much force. The expression of concentration on Shuuhei’s face suited him- that frustration. That twitch in his lips like he wanted to grit his teeth but was just barely holding back. Renji wondered if zhe was making a similar face, and surprised zhimself by realizing how long they had been making eye-contact like this with their bodies grinding against each other. The bare inches between their faces seemed like a vacuum. Close enough to hear a heartbeat, if not for the music squeezing their skulls.

Zhe wanted to say something snarky, like asking Shuuhei if he was aware he had gotten better at this. But of course, speaking over the music would have been impossible even with Renji’s mouth on the shell of Shuuhei’s ear. It probably wouldn’t have helped anyways, since being sassy would be difficult when a more immediate part of Renji’s brain was focused on the friction between zher cock and the confines of zher clothes, grinding against Shuuhei through layers fabric, and the question of if that opening between Shuuhei’s lips could be put to something useful.

Renji’s fingers combed through Shuuhei’s hair, tugging on the longer strands at the nape of his neck. Finally, zhe was close enough to drag zher teeth over Shuuhei’s neck. It only took the tiniest bit of pressure to feel zher canines sinking, without breaking the skin, into Shuuhei’s flesh. Shuuhei’s throat bobbed against Renji’s, his grasp on zher hips turning into a vice-like grip with claws digging into thighs, squeezing zher ass and using the leverage for a better angle to rut against.

And when Renji pulled apart for air and saw Shuuhei’s face zhe almost laughed- there was new emotion on him. New hunger, that was so, so much like him. Renji wanted to slip that face into zher pocket, frame it over a mantle. Zhe could almost stew in zher smugness enough to ignore Shuuhei still groping, coaxing some throaty and horny noise nearly out of Renji’s throat but not quite. Shuuhei’s fingers spidering their way up Renji’s shirt and pulling zher not towards him, but towards the perimeter of the dance floor. Painfully predictable. Renji didn’t even stumble until Shuuhei’s grip moved once more to catch a handful of Renji’s long hair in his fist and use  _that_ to yank zher around. Maybe not so predictable after all.

Eden’s bathrooms are about what you’d expect for a nightclub. They run a tidy establishment, Renji will remind you. Zhe took the time to admire the clean floors and unvandalized mirrors when Shuuhei pushed zher against the walls of a stall and pressed the entire weight of his body against zhim. In this lighting Renji can better see the deep frown of focus on Shuuhei’s lips, and the glowing red mark in a ring of little indents on his pretty neck.

Renji unbuckled Shuuhei’s belt after zhe sank down to zher knees. It looked nice. Real sleek with the subtle studs on it. Renji will have to remember to drop hints when Shuuhei buys zhim zher next expensive gift.

“That guy earlier was cute.” Shuuhei huffed, though how he could articulate that well when spreading his legs and leaning over Renji’s crouched form was a mystery. The red tint under his dark skin and the audible sound of his breathing still gave him away. The head of his cock bobbing against the roof of Renji’s mouth spoke for itself. “You sweet on him?”

Renji mumbled something noncommittal around Shuuhei’s length, wrapping zher lips around him and sucking hard. Shuuhei’s fingers combed through Renji’s hair, raking his nails over zher scalp, and his lips eerily split apart into the first grin that Renji had ever seen on his face.

-

Renji’s next present is an expensive pair of designer sunglasses. They’re to replace the watch that zhe accidentally crushed about two nights earlier.

Zhe receives it when Shuuhei leaves it on zher nightstand before leaving for the morning. It comes in a black box with a graceful gold ribbon tied around the container, and a handwritten note advising zher to be more careful.


End file.
